Anonymous Answers: Flaws of EA Community - 80,000 Hours

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80,000 Hours·80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-...

Credibility Rating

3/5

Good(3)

Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.

Rating inherited from publication venue: 80,000 Hours

An 80,000 Hours community self-critique piece from 2020 collecting anonymous insider perspectives; useful for understanding cultural and epistemic failure modes within EA and longtermist communities relevant to AI safety coordination efforts.

Metadata

Importance: 38/100blog postcommentary

Summary

A collection of anonymous candid critiques from EA community members identifying structural and cultural flaws within the effective altruism movement. Topics range from groupthink and status dynamics around longtermism to insularity, poor hiring practices, and insufficient engagement with the outside world. The piece serves as internal self-reflection on how the EA community could improve.

Key Points

•Groupthink and excessive peer-updating are identified as significant risks, potentially leading to correlated errors across the community.
•Longtermism has reportedly become a status symbol rather than a well-reasoned priority, distorting community incentives.
•The community is criticized for being too insular, not engaging enough with outside perspectives or broader global catastrophic risks.
•Cultural issues include a 'holier than thou' attitude, disagreeableness, and failing to welcome diverse contributors with varied skill sets.
•Operational critiques include poor hiring practices, abandoning projects too quickly, and neglecting less popular but potentially high-value funding opportunities.

Cited by 1 page

Page	Type	Quality
EA Global	Organization	38.0

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## On this page:

- [Introduction](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#top)
- [1 What are the biggest flaws of the effective altruism community?](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#what-are-the-biggest-flaws-of-the-effective-altruism-community)
  - [1.1 Groupthink](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#groupthink)
  - [1.2 Disagreeableness](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#disagreeableness)
  - [1.3 Too much focus on 'the community'](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#too-much-focus-on-the-community)
  - [1.4 A 'holier than thou' attitude](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#a-holier-than-thou-attitude)
  - [1.5 Failing to give more people a vision of how they can contribute](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#failing-to-give-more-people-a-vision-of-how-they-can-contribute)
  - [1.6 Longtermism has become a status symbol](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#longtermism-has-become-a-status-symbol)
  - [1.7 Not engaging enough with the outside world](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#not-engaging-enough-with-the-outside-world)
  - [1.8 Not following best hiring practices](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#not-following-best-hiring-practices)
  - [1.9 Being too unwilling to encourage high standards](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#being-too-unwilling-to-encourage-high-standards)
  - [1.10 Doing non-technical research that isn't actually useful](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#doing-non-technical-research-that-isnt-actually-useful)
  - [1.11 Abandoning projects too quickly](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#abandoning-projects-too-quickly)
  - [1.12 Most people live in the centre of big cities](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#most-people-live-in-the-centre-of-big-cities)
  - [1.13 Lack of support for entrepreneurs](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#lack-of-support-for-entrepreneurs)
  - [1.14 Valuing exceptional work in a non-effective job too highly](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#valuing-exceptional-work-in-a-non-effective-job-too-highly)
  - [1.15 Too cautious](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altruism-community/#too-cautious)
  - [1.16 Too narrow](https://80000hours.org/2020/03/anonymous-answers-flaws-effective-altrui

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Resource ID: 687310de5152e7ec | Stable ID: MmRhOTM0OD